The Beat of Sports

Jerry O'Neill joins Mike Bianchi and Marc Daniels on The Bridge to debate whether or not anti-UCF sentiment can actually help UCF this football season.

Former UCF wide receiver Josh Reese joins the show to talk about how he won a championship in the Arena Football League even though his team finished with a 2-10 record. He talks about what the thought process was for him to make the switch to playing in an arena league. Then he discusses his drive as he strives to make a return to the NFL and when asked by Marc he talked about how he has been looking at the Alliance of American Football as a way to help that journey.

Mike Bianchi and Marc Daniels discuss the latest details involving the Gator players involved in a confrontation with a known/local gambler and how there were actually 3 or 4 other incidents leading up to the one in May! Marc and Mike share their thoughts on how this story is FAR from over.

Braves pitcher, Sean Newcomb’s no-hit bid should’ve been the big story of the night from last night, but racially insensitive tweets resurfaced from his past that became the bigger story. Bianchi and Daniels debate how and why players find themselves in this position where their social media past comes back to bite them.

This morning on The Bridge, Marc Daniels and Brandon Kravitz debated just how familiar our audience is with the name Jerick McKinnon, based on a debate around the iHeart offices. Plus, Jameis Winston talk as well as a season prediction for the Miami Dolphins.

How did Stephen Ross one of the wealthiest owners in the NFL became a soccer fan in a short period of time. Over the past few years Ross went from being a new owner in the NFL to speaking with the government in Spain to help bring El Classico to Miami. This one decision led to the birth of the International Champions Cup which has helped some of the biggest clubs in Europe branch out to the American audience.

Bianchi and Daniels kicked off The Bridge with a discussion about what the expected attendance is for tonight's Orlando City match, before switching gears to media etiquette involving Bill Belichick and OSC head coach James O'Connor.

One of the most popular topics at the recent conference media days what expanding the college football playoff system. Some coaches have said it should go to 8 teams while Jim Harbaugh suggested making it 16 teams. Marc explains that if you are going to expand the system then it a big choice needs to be made. Do you want just the top 8 teams in the country or should it be the 5 conference champions plus 3 at-large bids? You go the second route then you might end up with a 4 loss team in the playoffs, is that a good thing?

Today’s Bridge is a special edition of the already great segment, where Mike Bianchi and Marc Daniels “Bridge” Open Mike into the Beat of Sports. Jerry O’Neil, host of the Finish Line from 3-6pm jumped into the studio with the guys and a heated debate only took minutes to erupt!

As training camp looms so begins another time for star players to holdout because of they are unhappy about their contracts. Le'Veon Bell of the Steelers is a prime example of this as he has been disappointed with getting franchised tagged for the last 2 seasons. Marc explains why star running backs aren't paid in the upper echelon like quarterbacks and wide receivers are. Things like play calling, a shift to more passing and going to a running back by committee hasn't helped the situation.